


Ner vod

by clonecest_bin_account



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Sibling Bonding, Trans Clone Troopers (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:54:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27943361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clonecest_bin_account/pseuds/clonecest_bin_account
Summary: Life in the Guard isn't easy, but at least the vode can count on each other's support.
Relationships: CC-1010 | Fox & Original Female Character(s), CC-1010 | Fox & Tailor (OC)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	Ner vod

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kylonaberrie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kylonaberrie/gifts).



> This was very fun to write! I love Tailor so I'm happy I got to write her!

Being a Corrie isn’t easy, despite what the vode may think, but even if you try to explain it to them, most of them won’t even listen. Fox knows, he’s tried it already; at least his batch takes him seriously, even though they can’t help but to sneak in a few jokes about it from time to time. Fox always tries to take them in good jest, but sometimes their words come back haunting him during the most difficult times.

What he would like, when it comes to this matter, is for Tailor to understand it too. This is already the fifth time in that month that he has to personally drag her out of 79’s because she was about to start a fight with some random vod whom she overheard talking shit about them.

“I wasn’t going to do anything!” she exclaims once they’re far enough to stop. “I just wanted them to understand!”

“I know you, you were going to make them understand with your fists,” Fox replies, taking none of her shit.

At least he doesn’t comment on the irony of this: she’s always the first one to scold the fools she has to patch up because of these bar scuffles, and now she almost got involved in one. He doesn’t say anything about this only because it would make her even more mad and that’s not what he wants at the moment - he’s storing this bit for the next time she’ll tell some poor shiny not to get involved in these things.

She might act all no-nonsense and stern around the shinies, but she still loves the Guard dearly, and she’d do anything to protect them, like each one of them does. After all, if not even your brothers are with you, what else can you do if not stick with each other? At least they are a pretty cohesive group.

His gaze softens and he puts a hand on her shoulder.

“Let’s head back, ner vod, shall we?”

She doesn’t say anything but she nods, following Fox back home. Well, it’s not exactly a home per se, but it’s the closest they have - and probably will ever have - to it, so might as well call it that. The truth is that she’s not talking about the buildings, no, she’s talking about the Guard, about the rest of her vode. They are her true home, but she refuses to say it out loud to them; she has a reputation to uphold after all, she can’t allow people to see her soft side.

Fox isn’t just a random somebody, however; she trusts him enough to let her façade crumble, even for a small amount of time.

It’s subtle at first, just a brush of their hands together, then Tailor goes to grab Fox’s, squeezing to the point that it hurts even with the gauntlets still on.

Despite this, Fox doesn’t point it out, doesn’t point out anything at all. What he does, instead, is to squeeze her hand as well.

“I’m here. I got you. I love you.” That’s what that gesture says. There’s no need for words, just silent companionship.

Once they’ll get back, they’ll probably have to go their separate ways, but it doesn’t matter for now. They have each other’s back and they will keep things that way.

Even if they might not have the support of the rest of their brothers’ at least they have their own. They can always count on that.

* * *

“Prison duty again, huh?” Foxtail mutters as she’s reviewing Fox’s schedule. She’s not supposed to have his datapad, but they were chilling inside Fox’s office during one of his rare moments of break and once she set her sights on it there was no stopping her.

Fox nods at her words, wordlessly, which to Tailor is most suspicious, because Fox hates guard duty and never wastes any chance to make it well known. The fact that he’s not saying anything means that he must’ve put himself there to escape from a bad situation - since nobody ever bothers with the clones stationed for prison duty - something that doesn’t happen much often to him, but it does for other officers that are a little less “polite” around the wrong people.

Knowing that she’ll have the drag the truth out of him, she asks:

“What happened?”

“Nothing happened,” Fox lies, and if Tailor hadn’t known him as well as she does, she would’ve missed the way his body tenses just for a moment, before Fox hops off the desk and begins pacing, a clear sign of nervousness. “I just had a… disagreement, with a Senator.”

“How big of a disagreement?” Tailor asks. That doesn’t bode well at all.

“… I might’ve insulted him.”

Tailor’s blood goes cold in her veins as she hears those words.

“ _What?_ ”

“It’s not as bad as you think!” Fox immediately says. “He’s been complaining about the ‘excessive security’, his words not mine, because he was forced to be followed by an escort and eventually I told him that this is our job so we know better than him.”

This has to be the short version of the story, but at the moment this isn’t what worries Tailor more.

“I know what you’re about to say, I know I was wrong,” Fox continues, “I just--”

He’s shaking more and more as he goes on. Tailor needs to act _now_. She gets up from the chair she kindly stole from Fox since the moment she set foot in there and she approaches him; only once she’s sure she’s not going to make things worse by doing this she wraps her arms around him, pulling him into a hug.

“It’s going to be fine,” she says, trying to sound certain despite how much she too is afraid. “They’re not going to send you back to Kamino, alright?”

Fox nods, but he’s still unconvinced. This calls for a keldabe, which of course Tailor drags him into.

“The Guard would be lost without its Commander and you know it. They wouldn’t take away such a useful asset.”

What she just said is cold, very cold, but it’s also their unfortunate truth. Besides, Tailor knows this will get Fox more than any reassuring words, no matter how well-intentioned they might be. This time in fact he looks more convinced when he speaks.

“I know it’s just… Well… You know.”

“I do,” she says, unable to hold back her bitterness at that statement. It’s not easy to live with the knowledge that your life is disposable and that it takes very little for anyone to get sent back and get decommissioned. Still, they can’t let that fear overtake them.

At least now Fox’s smiling, although sheepishly.

“I’m sorry you had to see me like that, ner vod,” he says. Tailor rolls her eyes at him.

“Oh come on don’t go there now. How many times did I tell you it’s fine, you stupid di’kut?” she replies. By now Fox should know that he can count on her, but he’s still stubborn enough to always try to carry the entire weight of the Guard all on his shoulders, like Coruscant would fall if he so much decides to take a break.

It would be too easy if he just stopped with his workaholic tendencies, but it’s fine. Well, it’s not, but at least he can count on Tailor to keep him in check.

She’ll always make sure that he takes care of himself.

* * *

Sometimes Tailor can’t help but to wonder if her brothers who are deployed in the war and not stationed in Coruscant get the same treatment they get: are they always treated as heroes by the inhabitants of the worlds they save, or are they considered freaks by them too?

Not that she thought they were ever going to be considered heroes here on Coruscant - that’s just not how things work - but still people treat them as slaves. Well, that isn’t really that far from the truth now, isn’t it?

She shakes her head, deciding to go back to work instead of letting her traitorous mind wander into dangerous territories. What was she doing before getting lost in her own head? Ah, that’s right! She needed to compile requisition forms for more hypos.

One would think they’d get plenty of those since they’re medics, but that’s unfortunately not the case and…

She hears an explosion, then her comm begins to beep furiously.

Something must’ve happened, something very _bad_.

A bombing to the Senate is something they all know to expect - one of the training scenarios for the shinies is exactly this in fact - but to think that someone would bomb the Guard precinct is…

Why? Why would they do that to them, the people who live and die for this city? They’re already bleeding them dry, and now this?

Agh, there’s no time to get lost in her thoughts like this! She needs to check on the men!

The wall that has been bombed has crumbled, leaving some brothers under the rubble. Tailor anxiously waits for the relief efforts to begin retrieving them, ready to go immediately as soon as someone comes up. The key in these kinds of emergencies is quickness and fast reflexes: if it takes too long for her to act, she might lose the vod’s life she’s trying to save.

Even with the medics ready to operate however, not everyone survives. Some are even already dead at the retrieval, others die later.

This is the second vod that Tailor keeps close in her arms, trying to give them at least a bit of company before they eventually close their eyes and march on, and while she keeps asking herself why this has happened and what they are going to do now. There’s surely going to be an investigation, but she doubts it will produce any result: if it had been any other natborn building exploding, then people would have cared, but they are just clones, not enough to warrant a proper investigation.

The body in her hands has already gone cold when she hears a familiar voice barking orders to the rest of the troopers. Kark.

As she gets up to follow the voice, she can’t help but to be glad that he was under the rubble, but this doesn’t mean that he wasn’t involved in the explosion in any way.

When Tailor finally reaches Fox in fact, she can’t help but to curse the fact that she had to take care of the injured ones first. Even though he doesn’t look injured, the poor vod’s shaking, even though he stubbornly acts like he’s not. Nobody has had the courage to point it out, at least until Tailor got there.

She didn’t even wait for him to acknowledge her presence before grabbing him by the shoulders and dragging him away, knowing that there are other CCs that will take Fox’s place.

“Where are we going?” Fox asks. The fact that he’s not even trying to resist Tailor speaks volumes.

“Your office,” is the laconic response. There’s no need to say anything else.

Once in Fox’s office, Tailor begins to do a medical check-up just to be sure, but Fox pushes her away.

“I’m fine! I just got there…” he says, but he begins choking on his own words.

Tailor draws him immediately into a hug, holding him tightly. His shaking worsens, and Tailor can hear the sound of sniffles coming from him, but she doesn’t say anything.

She lets him cry all he wants, and maybe she cries a bit too, who knows - she’s not going to tell. The despair this job gives them pours out all at once, with Tailor and Fox unable to do anything about it if not trying to support each other at the best of their abilities. That’s how things work in the Guard.

Eventually they both stop, pulling away after what feels like an entire day, if not even more.

“Thank you, _Foxtails_ ,” Fox says, drying what remains of his tears with one hand. Foxtails, not Tailor.

She smiles.

“Anything for you, ner vod.”

At those words, even Fox manages a small smile as he replies to her.

“Anything for you too, _ner vod_.”


End file.
